


Just the Shop Boy

by WhenSheFalls



Series: Adrinette April 2020 by Falls [6]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrinette April 2020, Adrinette | Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - No Miraculous, Alternate Universe - Non-Magical, Crushes, Emilie Agreste Lives, F/M, Flirting, Fluff, Gabriel brand never took off, ML Writer's Challenge, Weekly Writing Challenge, chlonette bffs, life swap au, mari is just a tad overworked, mari's parents are like super rich, shop boy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2020-05-06
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:34:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24040636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhenSheFalls/pseuds/WhenSheFalls
Summary: “My name’s actually Adrien but I’ll take ‘cute shop boy’ if it’s from you,” he couldn’t help but add a wink.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: Adrinette April 2020 by Falls [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1693510
Comments: 8
Kudos: 163
Collections: Adrinette April 2020





	Just the Shop Boy

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! Super late but I really liked this piece so I had to finish it!
> 
> Thanks a bunch to my wonderful beta [@Jammies122](%E2%80%9C), you are a star and such a massive help with this fic. 
> 
> I hope everyone likes it!
> 
> [Tumblr](https://www.fallsofnoir.tumblr.com/)

The first day she stepped into his father’s shop he was sleeping in the stock room. Well nearly sleeping. He had of course been startled awake at the sound of the bell being rung and rushed to throw his employee branded shirt over his old pokemon t-shirt from when he was a teenager. 

He bumbled his way through an apology and ran the girl’s items through the till. She was far more polite than he’d seen customers be before when he messed up. And that was it. 

Then she came back the next day and bought a blouse. Not that he minded. Repeat customers were always good for business and this time her friend bought something too. Plus she was cute and that definitely helped.

He had managed to get a pretty blush to appear on her face by the third time she visited. She claimed she was back because of the quality of the clothing. But her friend, who he could swear was the major's daughter in overly large sunglasses, gave her a far too loud pep talk on “how to ask out the cute shop boy” before she’d walked over here. 

“My name’s actually Adrien but I’ll take ‘cute shop boy’ if it’s from you,” he couldn’t help but add a wink. 

“Oh, I’m going to kill Chloé,” she mumbled as she placed a jacket from the rack on the counter. Chloé, so it was the major’s daughter. Which meant this girl was probably either very rich or very famous. Adrien couldn’t work out why she was bothering visiting this boutique when, less than two streets away, was the high-end side of the fashion district. Even if she was rich, she was blushing over a simple shop boy like him and he wasn’t going to let that chance go. 

On the fourth occasion, he grinned at her and told her that the blue, in the bracelet she’d picked out, matched her eyes. She smiled back and he was positive it was the prettiest thing he’d ever seen. He was pretty sure he looked completely love-struck at that point. Not that she was much better and Chloe coughed pointedly when she noticed that they were both just smiling stupidly at each other. 

The fifth time passed by rather quickly or slowly depending on how you looked at it. She turned up just after he’d come off his lunch break and, without even looking for too long at the clothes, chose at least five items off the racks. 

“I know you are just the shop boy-“

“Cute shop boy,” he’d interrupted. She glared at the interruption although the corner of her lip lifted and redness appeared on her cheeks. 

“But these clothes are amazingly crafted, can you pass my thanks onto the designer? You probably don’t even know them but if you do, I mean the tags tell me they’re made in Paris so you might do. Just pass that on thanks. I’m going to buy all these now, I’ll find some use for them.” 

It took him a second to process everything she’d just said but he was pretty sure she was buying the clothes so he began to run them through the till. He noticed her eyes were flickering between him and the shop door and her fingers were twitching. 

His brain caught up and realised he had to actually respond to the praise she was giving the clothes. “I’m glad you like them, I’ll pass it on to him. ” 

She jumped as though she hadn’t expected him to reply to her, “Really? You will?” Her smile then practically lit up the little shop. 

He grinned back and handed her her bag of items. “Sure, and who am I going to say is thanking him?”

“Oh, Marinette,” she said like it had never occurred to her to introduce herself and stuck her hand out for him to shake. The blue bracelet she’d purchased the last time hanging from her wrist. “My name is Marinette.” 

Marinette. It suited her. Like the brilliant blue sea in her eyes. 

There was a crowd passing the shop as they shook hands and he could feel her tense. Her brilliant blue eyes showed panic. 

“Hey, um, can I ask an odd request?” her body moved into a slight crouch behind one of the clothes racks. Her head was turned facing the crowd outside.

“Go for it,” he said. A quick glance at the crowd told him it was reporters. He’d forgotten that she was either rich or famous. 

“Can I hide in the back? Please, those nosy reporters have been following me all day, I thought I’d lost them in the last shop but it seems like they’ve tracked me.” 

Adrien’s dad was going to shout at him for it later, but he let her because he knew his mum would be able to talk his dad down. He was pretty glad he did too. The reporters stuck around outside for a good solid hour until one of them actually bothered to step into the shop and ask if he’d seen her. His acting was top-notch, of course, and soon they were all leaving. 

She, however, stayed in the staff room. He’d knocked on the door when there were no customers in the shop and told her she could come out. She didn’t answer. He opened the door and paused in the doorway. 

She was so cute. There on the sofa, he always took his naps on, was Marinette. Her face smushed into the cushions. He couldn’t wake her, he should, but he couldn’t. Not when she was sleeping so soundly, she probably needed it, and by the looks of it hadn’t been meaning to sleep either. 

He slowly closed the door to the staff room and got back to work. The couch wasn’t the comfiest place to sleep and Adrien made a promise to himself to bring a couple of blankets from home, and maybe a proper pillow. 

It barely felt like she was there for 5 minutes before she left the room, despite the clock reminding him that it was nearly time to close up the shop for the night. She didn’t look at him as she stumbled out. Her head stayed bowed and her hands were clutching the shopping bag with her purchases from earlier. 

“Thank you,” she began. “I, uh, really needed the rest. So thank you for putting up with my snoring. _Why did I just say that?_ I mean, for watching me, _not in a creepy stalker way_ , for watching OUT for me. Yeah, I’ll just, I’ll go.” He knew he was grinning when her eyes met his. A blush lit up her checks, so cute, and she looked away. “I’ll see you soon, I guess.”

And then she was waving at him and rushing out of the shop. He called out her name but she didn’t turn around and he didn’t hear more than a muffled squeak out of her. 

Then he was alone in the shop. He caught himself grinning stupidly in one of the shop mirrors and let out a laugh at how quickly Marinette had managed to make him feel like a teenager again. He couldn’t wait to see her again. 

Except she didn’t come back, not the next day, or the one after that. She hadn’t been into the boutique for weeks and he felt stupid for not asking for her number the last time. He’d even been out and specifically bought blankets for the sofa. His dad, thankfully, hadn’t noticed them. He was pretty certain that he’d scared her away somehow. 

Maybe he should ask Natalie if she would keep a lookout for her on her shifts. He didn’t mind visiting the shop on his days off, but she pretty much banned him from disturbing her when it was her shift. He sighed as he began to close the shop up for the night. He just needed to be patient. She said she’d be back and he had to trust that she would. 

He was grabbing his backpack from the staff room when he heard it, the sound of something hitting glass. He swivelled around and ran back into the shop. Marinette was standing there outside the shop, rubbing a hand to her head and the closer he got the more he could see a makeup imprint in the glass. Had she just run into the doors? The embarrassed look on her face told him all he needed to know.

Fishing his keys out of his pocket, he unlocked the door and stepped outside. 

“Hey,” he said. She looked pretty out of breath so he turned and locked the door behind him whilst he waited for her to catch her breath. “In a rush to see me?”

“No, well, I-well, okay, so yes but, and there’s a but, only because I came here too late yesterday and you’d already closed up,” she admitted in one long rush. She took a couple of gulps of air before she continued. “I’m sorry I haven't been back sooner, my, uh, manager filled my schedule because I may or may not have skipped out on an interview that afternoon I stayed here.”

Oh, she’d been caught. He let out a laugh, “You have no idea how glad I am to hear that.” Her eyes widened and he stuttered to correct himself. “I mean -not that- not that you got in trouble, just that it wasn’t you know **me** that you were avoiding.” He grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his neck, it felt warm out today. 

“I wasn’t! I really wanted to come back! I meant to bring you something to say thank you, but I thought I’d miss you again if I wasted time going to the shop,” she blurted out, her own hand coming up to mimic him in scratching her neck. 

“I wanted you to come back too,” he admitted. A smile lit up her face at that but it didn’t last long. What replaced it was a downpour of rain from the skies. It hit the two of them in big fat droplets, quickly soaking them both as they stood there in shock.

Okay so maybe it wasn’t warm out, they were going to be chilled to the bone if they didn't get inside quickly. He grabbed his keys again and fumbled to get the door unlocked. For those brief few seconds, he could feel Marinette pressing closer to his back to try to get some shelter from the shop’s overhang. And then he was grabbing her hand and pulling her into the shop and back through to the staff room. 

He flicked the lights on and went over to the cupboards to find a towel they could use to dry their hair. He found one and brought it over to Marinette. Drying her hair for her may have been a step too far so he just handed it to her and went back to the cupboards where he dug out their supply of coffee. 

“Ah my mother is going to kill me for ruining this dress!” Marinette groaned as she patted herself dry. The dress looked designer and rain clearly was not good for the fabric. 

“I’d offer to take you to a cafe, but I think instant coffee will have to do unless you fancy getting soaked again and annoying your mother even more,” he said. They didn’t have anything fancy, just simple coffee. She didn’t seem to mind though if the way her eyes lit up when he mentioned it was anything to go by. 

“I’ve never had an instant coffee before. I’d much rather try something new instead of risking my mother's wrath.”

“Well then, you’re in for a treat,” he began as he carried her coffee over to her. She was sat bundled on the sofa with one of the blankets he’d bought wrapped around her whole being. She looked so soft and cuddly, he couldn’t stop the warm feeling that rose in his chest and probably flushed his cheeks. Cute. She was just cute. “This coffee is the weaker, bitter cousin of normal coffee. You’ve just gotta love it.”

He had to laugh at the grimace that appeared on her face as she tasted it. “Do you want some sugar in it?” He liked his just black but Natalie kept sugar around here somewhere. Sure enough, the cupboard had a small bag of sugar. After he’d added it, he sat back down next to her and they fell into a comfortable silence as the coffee warmed them up. 

After she’d finished her coffee Marinette turned so that she was facing him on the sofa. “So, Adrien, correct me if I’m wrong but why are you working in this boutique? You don’t seem like the fashion type.” She pointed to his t-shirt. He looked down to see that he’d worn one of his Zelda shirts, he didn’t see anything wrong with it.

“What’s wrong with this shirt? It’s a classic,” he questioned.

“A classic yes, but it does not go with those navy trousers,” she said in clear disapproval. 

“I wear my shirt over it when I'm working. And my uh dad is the owner of the shop,” he admitted. It's not like anyone saw the shirt when he was in the shop. Unless his shift was over. ”I’ve worked here since before I was probably supposed to. I didn’t get much say in that at the time though.”

She nodded, ”That’s a mood.”

“Oh yeah, what’s your story then?” He was pretty sure that she was someone famous, she had a manager, but he didn’t recognise her from among the fashion circles.

“I’m just a humble fashion lover, I dream of the day I could own a shop like this but my parents would never let me,” she sighed, her hands started to fiddle with the edges of the blankets. “Can I tell you something crazy?”

He scanned her face but she wasn’t looking at him. “Go for it.”

“My parents want me to own one of their bakeries, it’s literally being handed to me on a silver platter. A secure future where I can work without worry and an assistant to help me with everything. Except I don’t want it. I don’t want to be baking for the rest of my life just because my parents tell me I have to, I want to throw it all away and do something I want, something I love, for once.” 

He didn’t know why she was trusting all this to a random guy but he couldn’t help but agree with her. Not about the secure future bit, this shop was anything but secure, but being thrown into a future they had no control over.

“I’d run away with you if you wanted me to,” he replied.

“Don’t get my hopes up like that, or I might just think you’re being serious.”

He wasn’t being serious, not really, but maybe it felt nice to think that he could. That they could. She was smiling but it was a sad sort of smile, and he wanted to take it away more than anything.

“So maybe running away is a bit too much, but how would you feel about going out for dinner? On Friday?” He regretted letting her go the last time without making plans to see her, he wasn’t going to do it again. 

Her pretty smile was back, the one that reached her eyes and made them shine. “Friday sounds perfect.”

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I know I've tagged this as part of two series, well it worked for both prompts so I'm using it anyway. don't judge me.


End file.
